Search Results for: European Parliament

BY ALAN OSBORN
IN an attempt to stamp out smuggling and fraud, the European Commission is proposing that excise duties on popular cigarettes sold throughout the 15 EU countries should be brought much closer together. In a proposed new directive, the Commission says there should be a minimum fixed amount of excise duty of Euro 70 (about Pounds 42) per 1,000 cigarettes in the most popular price category, which would be in addition to the existing minimum excise requirement of 57% of the retail price.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EXEMPTION from European working time regulations for self-employed drivers, could last a lot longer than the three years that was agreed in the informal deal struck in the EU Council of Ministers last year.

Looking at the detail of the amended directive that has now been accepted formally by the Council, the three-year deadline only gives the European Commission the right to propose an end to the exemption.…

KEITH NUTHALL
Transport ministers of the 15 EU countries have agreed a regulation

that would require road transport companies to pay the same wages and

benefits to drivers from third countries as they do to EU nationals.

The EU Council said the regulation would put an end to “social

dumping” under which EU road companies have taken on drivers from east

European countries, for instance, at significantly lower wages than those

paid to nationals.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN IT companies will be able to apply for grants from a budget of Euro 3.6 billion, which has been earmarked for information society research from 2002-2006, if new proposals from the European Commission for a new framework research programme, are agreed by EU ministers and the European Parliament.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission is threatening France with legal action at the European Court of Justice over its alleged failure to recognise pharmacist diplomas from other EU Member States. Under European law, a special alternative recognition procedure is in place for Member States to assess and, where necessary, recognise some pharmacist diplomas whuch do not meet minimum training requirements under EU Directive 85/433/EEC.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A ROOT-AND-BRANCH reform of the European Union’s customs administrations is being proposed by the European Commission, to enable officials to deal with the flood of new trade that is being created by the development of e-commerce.

Brussels wants to ensure that customs forces are not overwhelmed by high workloads and are also able to effectively fight fraud.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commissioner for enterprise and the information society Erkki Liikanen has told the European Parliament that his officials are drawing up a new proposed directive on alternative medicines and have been working on the legislation since last year.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commissioner for enterprise and the information society Erkki Liikanen has told the European Parliament that his officials are drawing up a new proposed directive on alternative medicines and have been working on the legislation since last year.…

KEITH NUTHALL
FREIGHT forwarders may be freed of the burden of guaranteeing the payment of duty during EU transit operations, where hauliers transport goods across national borders in Europe, without paying duties or dealing with import procedures, except for the country where the consignment is delivered.…

KEITH NUTHALL
CHINA has agreed to stop its pharmaceutical manufacturers from copying medicines patented in Austria, Finland and Sweden, extending ‘administrative protection’ enjoyed by the rest of the European Union to these countries.

Beijing has been refusing to grant these rights – which are a form of patent protection – because when it agreed to stop its citizens copying European Union patented pharmaceuticals, neither Austria, Sweden nor Finland were EU members.…